


Chicken Fingers & Wine

by liamsfreckles



Series: We Could be More Than Just Amazing [3]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: IT'S JUST FLUFF OKAY, Kidfic, M/M, Single dad liam, loads of sticky sweet fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-18
Updated: 2016-09-18
Packaged: 2018-08-15 19:27:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8069809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liamsfreckles/pseuds/liamsfreckles
Summary: So, after putting Ethan to bed, he went into his room to find the business card.

  What had started with a very nervous text of ‘sorry my son hit you with a t-rex and it took me this long to contact you’ turned into Zayn - the man on the train - coming over for dinner.

  To his house.





	

**Author's Note:**

> part of the _we could be more than just amazing_ series.

Liam stood back from the dining room table to give it a once over with a critical eye, his brow furrowing slightly. He wasn’t really any good at this table setting thing: not that he ever had to do it. Usually it was just him and Ethan eating off those Buzz Lightyear plates Liam had bought when he first brought Ethan home. 

Tonight was different, though. Tonight he got out the good dinnerware.

He hadn’t meant to call him. Truly. He’d kind of forgotten about the man with the silver hair and the amber eyes who slipped his business card into Liam’s hand after Ethan had whacked him in the back of the head with a plastic dinosaur. He’d forgotten all about the crooked smile and the way he laughed as he got off the train.

He’d forgotten all about it. Until Ethan asked about the man on the train.

It happened the week before: Liam was giving Ethan his bath and listening to his son babble on about daycare. He was scooping water into his palm and rinsing the soap off Ethan’s back when the little boy looked up at him curiously.

“Daddy, we forgotted to ask that man to come for dinner.”

Liam blinked, his hand suspended just above Ethan’s shoulders. “What man, babe?”

“From the train. I hit him with Rex and we didn’t say sorry.” Ethan replied, a little crease forming between his eyebrows as he played with the bubbles in the tub. 

“That’s…we did, Eth. You told him sorry on the train,” Liam said, running his hand down Ethan’s back. His heart skipped a beat: he’d actually forgotten all about that moment. Ethan was getting too smart for him already. “M’sure he’s okay.”

Ethan shrugged his little shoulders and went back to playing with his dinosaurs as Liam finished getting him all clean, but Liam’s mind was working. He hadn’t really had a date in a while: not since Ethan came into his life 4 years ago, if he was honest. Not that he was out there looking, either. Ethan took up a lot of his time, and work was getting good for him as well.

That, and usually when he mentioned that he had a son…well, it wasn’t usually a conversation starter.

So, after putting Ethan to bed, he went into his room to find the business card.

What had started with a very nervous text of ‘sorry my son hit you with a t-rex and it took me this long to contact you’ turned into Zayn - the man on the train - coming over for dinner.

To his house.

He was making something simple: spaghetti Bolognese with garlic bread and a salad. Ethan was going to have dinner with them as well, as Zayn had been asking about him, and it made Liam’s heart expand: it was extremely rare that someone other than his family or close friends asked about Ethan…

Liam adjusted one of the forks on the table and glanced into the living room where Ethan was sitting on the couch, watching old reruns of Spiderman, his trusty t-rex in his lap.

“What do you think, babe? Think Zayn’ll like it?”

Ethan looked up at him, blinking warm brown eyes. 

Liam snorted. “I can’t believe I am doing this,” he groaned, palming the back of his neck. “I can’t believe I’m…”

The intercom chimed and Liam glanced up towards the door. He took one glance back to Ethan, who was invested in his cartoon once more, before making his way to the front door.

He pressed the talk button. “’Lo?”

“Hey it’s um - it’s Zayn,” came a voice. Liam flushed. “I’m hoping this is the right place?”

Liam smiled despite himself. “Yeah, yeah it is. Apartment 217, come on up.” He replied, buzzing Zayn in.

He brushed sweaty palms over his jeans, making sure his apartment was in some sort of order. Ethan’s toys were all put away, and he’d even pulled out the vacuum. 

He padded into the living room to crouch down in front of Ethan. “Okay, babe: it’s game time. You hungry?”

Ethan nodded, reaching out to touch Liam’s face. “Chicken finners!”

Liam laughed, turning his cheek to blow a raspberry into Ethan’s palm, delighting as the four year old squealed in delight.

There was a knock at the door and Liam grinned, scooping Ethan up into his arms to answer it. He unlocked the door and opened it with a flourish.

Zayn stood in Liam’s doorway, with a bottle of wine in one hand, and a stuffed Spiderman doll in the other. His hair was dark now: a shade or two darker than Liam’s, and still long like Liam (sort of) remembered. He still wore the same thick beard and glasses, and a quirked grin on his face.

“Hello, again,” Zayn whispered, eyes bright.

“Hello, again,” Liam parroted, shifting Ethan on his hip. 

Zayn held the doll out to Ethan, wriggling it in front of him for a moment. “Hey, bud. S’for you.”

Liam watched Ethan light up and reach out for the toy, curling fingers around it. “For me?” He asked, looking between the two of them. 

Liam nodded, snorting when Ethan giggled and clutched the toy to his chest. Liam set him down and rested his hand on his head. “What do you say, buddy?”

“Thank you, Zee!” Ethan sang, running into the living room with his new gift.

Liam opened the door a little more, inviting Zayn in. “C’mon in…” Liam said, gesturing with his hand. “And thanks for that: now I’ll never get him into Batman.”

Zayn laughed, eyes crinkling at the edges. “Give ‘im time: he’ll come around,” he said, stepping into the apartment. “The wine is for you: I’m…not sure what kind you like…”

“Is it wine?” Liam asked, closing the door behind them.

“It’s,” Zayn glanced at the bottle. “Wine?”

“Then it’s a wine I like.” Liam replied with a chuckle, taking the bottle from Zayn, fingers touching briefly. “Thank you.”

They stood in the hallway for a moment, with the sounds of Ethan singing along to the Spiderman theme floating through the apartment. There was an inexplicable warmth that filtered through Liam’s heart at this idea was a good one. Part of him was still worried that this was a horrible idea: what did he know about Zayn, really?

And what did Zayn know about him?

But the other part of him could hear Ethan in his ear, telling him ‘he thinks too much’.

“What’s that smell?” Zayn asked, tilting his chin up slightly.

Liam blinked out of his thoughts, his face paling. “Fuck me.” He whispered, before turning heel and darting into the kitchen.

“S’bit forward for a first date, babe…” Zayn laughed.

He made it to the stove to see the sauce boiling over in the pot, and the distinct aroma of burning. He groaned lowly, grabbing a tea towel to pull the pot off the stove, shifting it over to the sink. He then retrieved what used to be a loaf of garlic bread (but now looked more like a charcoal brick) from the oven, and pitched into his wastebin. 

His cheeks were hot with embarrassment, and he brought the tea towel up to his face. So much for being the hot single dad who had his life together…

Gentle, warm fingers curled around Liam’s wrists and tugged his hands away from his face. 

“A for effort?” Zayn grinned, glancing to the steaming pot in the sink.

Liam choked out a laugh, his eyes crinkling slightly at the edges. “Was trying to impress with my mad skills.” He admitted, licking over his dry lips. “How…how adverse are you to chicken fingers and chips?”

–

It started like this:

The three of them sitting on Liam’s living room floor, with plates (the toy story ones) of chicken fingers and chips on their laps, and reruns of Spiderman on the telly.

It started with Ethan telling Zayn all about his favourite characters, and his T-Rex aptly named Rex. 

It started with a gentle brush of Liam’s fingers settling atop Zayn’s while Zayn explained the tattoos on his arms to Ethan.

It started with Liam’s kid whacking Zayn in the back of the head with a dinosaur, and ended up feeling a little like a love story.


End file.
